Arizona Parents Cheer The Biden/Harris Administration’s Expansion of the Child Tax Credit

The New York Times has reported that COVID relief measures enacted under both the Trump/Pence and Biden/Harris Administrations (expanded unemployment insurance, stimulus checks, increased food stamp access, and more recently the expansion of the child tax credit) have reduced poverty in this country by almost 50 percent.

According to the Times reporting, the main beneficiaries of this poverty reduction have been children although the positive change has also benefited all other age and ethnic groups.

Moving forward, Democrats want to extend or make some of these programs like the expansion of the Child Tax Credit permanent.

Most Republicans do not, citing the disproven urban legend that such programs to help the poor foster laziness and dependence on government programs like the ones their rich patrons in the corporate world use to avoid paying taxes.

That is why these many of these anti-poverty measures will find their way in some form in the Democratic Budget Reconciliation Plan and not the Bipartisan Infrastructure one.

Arizona Parents Cheer The Biden/Harris Administration’s Expansion of the Child Tax Credit.

At a July 22, 2021 event hosted in Spanish by Arizona Democratic Party Chairperson Raquel Teran, six Latina mothers gathered to cheer and praise the expansion of the Child Tax Credit.

According to an American Rescue Plan projection sheet,  1.5 million Arizona Children will receive an expanded child tax credit, resulting in 112,000 being “lifted out of poverty.”

In a projection sheet for the American Families Plan, if the Child Tax Credit is extended or made permanent, 51 percent of children in Arizona will be lifted out of poverty.

During the event, six mothers praised the Child Tax Credit Program expansion’s benefits for their families and advocated for its extension.

In a summary of the parent comments released after the event by the Arizona Democratic Party:

“Luisa Cruz, who called this tax relief “a gift” for her family of four, saying that she plans to use it to pay her bills and buy new clothes for her children.

Adriana Harris, a mother and small business owner in Douglas who is going to use the money to buy school supplies and clothes for her son.

Albertina Sanchez, who said that she plans to invest in her children’s education and will now be able to afford new school uniforms for her three children as they head into a new school year.

Atenas Stuart, who thanked President Biden for looking out for working families like hers as they try to make ends meet after a really difficult year.

Carmen Toro, a mother of two who said the expanded tax credits will help cover some of her son’s unexpected medical expenses.

Adriana Marin, a mother of two who said that she especially appreciates the advanced nature of this year’s tax cut because it has delivered immediate help for her family.”

The expansion of the Child Tax Credit should be a vital component of the Democratic Budget Reconciliation Plan.

No child should suffer from poverty, be denied access to health care, wonder if they will be able to eat or have to find a place to sleep every day.

None of them should.

It is time for this country and its leaders to eradicate child poverty once and for all.